Being for the benefit of Mr. Kite...

This is an article i wrote for my coll. mag a while back. Why is it here? cos my miserable peer group refuses to shell out Rs 5 ($0.1667) to read it in print.

And in case you didn't notice/realise/care, all of today's topic titles are Beatles songs. The Beatles ROCK!!

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ashes to ashes, phoenix to dust

How many of us stepped into these hallowed portals with dreams of finding ourselves? How many stepped in with dreams of finding a girlfriend? How many dreams were crushed when we realized the rather abysmal sex ratio of one is to six? However that's not the point of this discussion. Actually it's a rather pointless discussion but hang in there. It gets worse.

Are you an engineering student

1. Did you begin the first semester of college by borrowing Erwin Kreysig from the college library?
2. Have you now "graduated" to Bakshi and Charulatha?
3. Can you define OD, Kadalai, Biscuit,Mokkai?
4. Name Oolon Colluphid's trilogy

More importatnly, do you know who David Bradley is? Do you know what Kumbakonam Degree Coffee is? What does success mean to you? How will you write a statement of purpose?

In the words of Will Durant in the words of Aristotle "Gnoiea Theou". Seen that above the Oracle's Kitchen have you? Well it's Greek not Latin and it simply means Know yourself

Ladies and Gentlemen, this then is the point of my discussion. The crux, the heart, the thing DK hounded me for a week for (taaliyan.. taaliyan).

Find yourself.

You'll never get another opportunity. This age, this point of time is all you have for experimentation. Well, do it. Whatever does it for you. From tongue piercing to streaking your hair to helping at a shelter to reading a new author. Do it. Experiment. Let your imagination run wild. Go bungee jumping. Join a billion clubs. Find 12 new friends. Do something outside your realm of comfort.

As a wise man once said "The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well". Actually, Joe Ancis said that. The wise man said "Don't play leapfrog with a unicorn"

Scared of making a fool of yourself? Scared of what people might say? To (mis)quote Rhett Butler "Frankly my dear, no one, gives a damn"

If you want softy, senti inspiration, go read chicken soup or something. The bare truth is simply that at the end of four years, you're no different from the other 120 students in your class. Or the other 50000 students that Anna University churns out each year. You need to be unique, different, stand out.

From the moment you step out of this campus you need to sell yourself. To an admissions officer, to an interviewer, to your mom in law. And what is to be your USP?
(That's unique selling point to the uninitiated, and while we aren't on the subject, six by nine is fifty four not fourty two)

Whether you're a perfectionist, a bibliophile, good with numbers or a hidden tapdancer, go out and find yourself.

Read the Fountainhead. The point of objectivist existentialism is the realisation of the self. The culmination of everything in reason. And if you thought I was making this stuff up as I go along you'd only be half wrong.

These four years will define who you are and what you will become. Not just in terms of your education. But in terms of your personality and interests. What excites you, whether it's philosophy or football

You are the person you will spend most of your life with. You owe it to yourself to become as interesting as possible.

So get out of the loo. Switch off the idiot box. (that there's nothing on it is a different issue.. who are we to CASt the first stone?) Don't read wordlists, they don't help. Read a newspaper. Read Gone with the wind. (No it's NOT a chick book).

And Remember Growing Old is mandatory but Growing Up is an option

Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat